Acoustic Refuge
This pattern is shaped by
Problem
There is a kind of silence that heals — not the absence of all sound, but the absence of *unwanted* sound. When every noise in a building — footsteps upstairs, plumbing, traffic, the neighbor's television — is transmitted through thin walls and lightweight floors, there is nowhere to experience it. Chronic noise exposure increases cortisol, disrupts sleep, impairs cognitive function, and makes people miserable in ways they can't always identify.
Evidence and Discussion
The WHO recommends indoor noise levels below 35 dB for sleeping and 40 dB for concentrated work. In many modern buildings, especially lightweight timber-frame construction, these levels are routinely exceeded by normal domestic activity in adjacent rooms.
Therefore
design at least one room in every dwelling for acoustic refuge — a space where ambient noise stays below 30 dB when the rest of the house is in normal use. Achieve this through mass (thick walls, concrete or masonry), decoupled structures (separated floor and ceiling assemblies), sealed air gaps around doors and windows, and distance from noise sources. This is the room for sleeping, for deep work, for recovering from the noise of the world. You should be able to hear your own breathing.